Infiltrator
by Djehuty3
Summary: Sometimes, a ninja goes missing. Sometimes, a ninja tells lies.
1. Chapter 1

Tsunade didn't look up when Danzo came in. There really wasn't much point. He'd never changed in appearance in the past five years, and she was sincerely doubtful he was going to start now. Instead, she finished reading the mission report in front of her, stamped it, signed her name at the bottom and tossed it into her out-tray (and when she saw him next, she was going to _kill_ Jiraiya. That sonofabitch had never mentioned the fucking _paperwork _when he convinced her to become Hokage!).

"Please, sit down," she said, by way of greeting. The whine that briefly textures the air as he pulls back the chair is her only response. She doesn't like Danzo; he's too harsh and cold, even for a ninja, and ROOT has always made her wonder precisely where his loyalty lies. She's also pretty sure he's got his eyes on her position, and even if she does hate the job she's got, she will burn in hell before she lets a class A sociopath anywhere near the reigns of her village.

But he had his uses, and right now she was going to employ one of them.

She finished up the paperwork, and finally looked up at him.

"We have a situation. One that I think is going to need our attention."

"Yes, Hokage-Sama?" His voice is annoyingly polite. She can barely read the undercurrents of _that's my seat you're sitting in, girl, and one of these days I'm going to kick you out of it_.

"Yeah. Look at this." She pushed a file over to him, and studied his face carefully as he read it. Danzo had a hell of a poker face, she had to give him that, but she was just that little bit better at seeing lies then he was at hiding them. He didn't like what he was reading. He didn't like it one little bit.

After a moment, he glanced up.

"This information is confirmed?"

"Entirely. Tsume said she'd never been so sure in her life."

The two of them stared at each other for a bit.

"Then what on earth," Danzo asked, slowly, almost thinking aloud, "are four sound nin doing this deep in Konoha territory?"

"A question I've been entertaining for a while," replied Tsunade. "I've got an answer, too. This isn't the first time those Sound Nin came into Konoha. They were here on the day of the invasion, I'm told, and performed a very extensive shielding Jutsu that lead to the death of my predecessor."

"The Sound Four."

"Precisely."

She watched him for a moment, and rather fancied his thought processes were going a similar way hers had.

Look at it like a puzzle...

Orochimaru sends his honour guard, four of his best, into Konoha. While he is demonstratably insane, Orochimaru is not stupid, so there will be a reason for this.

The Sound Four are primarily defense specialists- their fighting styles work best when they're trying to hold a position, or make sure something (or someone) is kept safe from harm. It's one of the reasons Orochimaru has them as his bodyguards.

One of the things they are not good at, however, is direct assaults. Therefore, Orochimaru has sent them to retrieve someone, or something, that he expected to come willingly.

After a long moment, he glanced up at Tsunade.

"Uchiha Sasuke."

"My thoughts exactly."

"The boy's loyalty to Konoha-"

"-will be competing with his hatred of his brother. That's almost all that's kept him going, Danzo."

The silence was thick and heavy. Tsunade had always had suspicions about the Uchiha massacre, but now was not the time.

"You have a suggestion, then?" Danzo asked, finally.

"Yes."

She turned her chair away from the desk, and looked out over her village.

"We're going to let him go."

XXXXX

Sasuke's eyes opened into total darkness. He was tied down tightly- even his fingers had been restrained (_which,_ he thought, _implied that whoever had caught him had enough competence to know a shinobi when he saw one, and how to stop him from making handseals_). He struggled anyway, without hope of success, but maybe he could get a feel for his bonds. A hand lashed out, obscenely fast in the darkness, and his jaw exploded into red fire.

The lights came up. His eyes, already the whirling scarlet of his Sharingan, identified everyone in the room in the heartbeat.

ANBU. Four of them. And a middle-aged man, his face half-hidden by bandages. One of the ANBU was drawing back his hand for another blow.

"No need for that," said the bandaged man, calmly. He might have been talking about the weather. The ANBU went still.

"Uchiha Sasuke," he continued. "I must apologise for that. And for your present condition. In most circumstances I wouldn't bother to go to such lengths, but in this particular case it's rather merited, I feel."

"Why?" Sasuke growled out from behind his restraints. They'd left his jaw free, at least, so he could speak. "I'm not a fucking missing nin, I have-"

"-rights, yes, you do. Shinobi rights. I'm not very fond of those, Uchiha-san. They're rather stupid, because they deny the reality of the situations they're applied in. The only rights a Shinobi really has is the right to obey orders, the right to kill when he is told to, and the right to die with his mouth shut so his village is protected by his silence. But," and he chuckled here, so that Sasuke was half-reminded of an almost forgotten uncle, "that is neither here nor there. I'm here to offer you a mission, Uchiha-San. One which you're well within your rights to turn down, of course."

Like hell he was. Sasuke knew a threat when he heard one, and this old man had not digressed like that for the good of his health.

"What," he enquired, through gritted teeth, "kind of mission?"

The old man smiled.

XXXXX

"Let him _go? _You propose we allow him to become Missing Nin?"

Tsunade smiled to herself without looking back.

"No. I propose we use what time we have to train him for infiltration."

She felt the weight of silence again.

"Infiltration," Danzo whispered, and Tsunade knew that she'd won.

"Yes. The boy will get the training he needs to defeat his brother, we get a spy in Orochimaru's camp, and Konoha keeps the Uchiha. If we don't, he will go with them, Danzo. He'll be forced to choose between revenge and loyalty, and he's too young- too _angry_- for that choice to be anything other then catastrophic for all concerned."

Danzo thought, silently.

"How long will I have?"

"Two days, at most."

"I won't be able to get beyond the basics. He may not succeed."

"Still better then the alternative, Danzo."

She watched his reflection in the window, saw him consider.

"Yes. I rather think it is."

XXXXX

Author's Notes: This came to me recently when thinking of the craziest plot twist I could possibly throw have in a Naruto fic- not only had Itachi been acting under orders, SO HAD SASUKE! DUM DUM DUM! It started as an idea to parody the series so far, but then I thought about how much fun one could have with that, and thus- this was born. No idea where I'll go with it, so... we'll see. And on the subject of Esius Balor? We'll see. I'm cogitating. Sloooooooooowly.


	2. Chapter 2

Traitor.

A word that characterised so very, very much of the shinobi way of life. The loyalty of a ninja- especially one from a hidden village- had to be utterly, totally without reproach. Thus, it was tested, over and over again, throughout their education. In the academy, students were so regularly checked in so many thousands of different ways (all so subtle many students didn't know they were being tested) that your average Konoha-Nin had a file so thick you could kill a puppy with it before they'd even graduated.

And if they found a student wanting, in even the slightest sense- perhaps a susceptibility to pain that would be too useful to a torturer, or a tendency towards resentment that could lead to treachery or murder- then that student was gone. The lucky ones were expelled.

No-one was entirely sure what happened to the unlucky ones.

The problem was, this system (for all it's thoroughness) failed with if not regularity then at least a certain degree of reliability. Because they weren't training soldiers, they were training ninja, and a ninja lies like a fish swims. If you were smart enough, and a good enough liar, then you could get your genin headband with murder in your heart and a record so clean it glowed. The problem had never been solved- partly because it's hard to teach a student total honesty and instil a liar's tongue at the same time. The ANBU made up for it by keeping more accurate records of their own, but they tended to keep them to themselves.

Sasuke had known about the loyalty tests; it was one of the upsides of being a prodigy. He hadn't lied- not outright at least- but he had weighted his answers a little, to make his life simpler. It was easier to learn when your loyalty was unquestioned, after all.

He hadn't known about the ANBU files. But as he sat, so tightly restrained it was a miracle he could even breathe, staring at Danzo as the old bastard read from a brown cardboard binder, he started to suspect.

"Infiltration," he said, quietly. Danzo nodded, without glancing up.

"Yes. We have plans for you, Uchiha-San. You've got a bright career ahead of you, if you want it. But you need a certain degree of education we are ill-equipped to provide. You need to learn from a Sannin, to truly reach your potential, or at least have a chance of it. Jiraiya's already chosen the Uzumaki boy, and you're not the sort to do well under Tsunade, even if we ignored the fact your team-mate's the one she's got her eye on. And that," he said, as he finally met Sasuke's eyes, carefully blank, "leaves one."

"Orochimaru." The name hissed through the air, cutting the silence apart.

"Yes."

There was an uncomfortable pause.

"Kakashi-"

"-is an excellent ninja and a poor teacher. Even if he was, he couldn't provide what you need."

"I haven't done so bad recently," the young Uchiha growled through gritted teeth. Danzo smiled patronisingly.

"Really? Your brother wiped the floor with you, boy. And that impromptu little fight with the Uzumaki you had in the hospital only reinforced the fact that he's swiftly becoming better then you."

The last three words dropped into Sasuke's consciousness like dull weights into flour. He glared furiously at his tormentor, teeth bared.

"Why so angry, Uchiha-San? It's the truth. I'm trying to provide the means to remedy that fact. All you have to do is go with the envoys he's sent and learn as much as you can about Sound. He'll teach you anything you ask him."

The silence went dark, and contemplative.

"What's your angle?" Sasuke bit out.

"I'm sorry?"

"You're not going to risk a mission like this on an untried genin unless you have to, and I'm not buying this 'charity' shit. What do you get out of this?"

Danzo looked at him for a moment, and then struck him brutally across the face.

"I'll not tolerate insolence in an operative, Uchiha-san, no matter how important his clan might have been. But you're not incorrect. I do have a motive." The old man leaned forward, his face intense.

"The greatest enemy at our gates right now is Sound and Orochimaru. He is insanely powerful, and that village of his is a breeding ground for all kinds of fanatics, all of them ninja, and all of them devoted as he is to bringing this village down. This is, of course, ignoring the fact that it provides him with resources and subjects for his experiments. He could be discovering anything, Sasuke. Horrors beyond our comprehension- and weapons to use against us. This is a dangerous situation, but what makes it terrifying is the fact that we have almost _no intel_ beyond what we've managed to pick up from the attacks and the bingo books. We have no informants in his camp. We have no idea as to his location. We don't know what his operations are, and where, and why. We know, quite literally, _nothing_ about Sound beyond hearsay and gossip. You're going to remedy that.

"While you're there, Uchiha-San, you will provide me with all of the intelligence you can provide on the village. Every mission you take, you'll inform us of. Every shinobi you work alongside, every person you train, every place you stay, everything you eat for breakfast-_ you will tell me._ You're going to be our insider, Uchiha-San. As for why you? Because Orochimaru wants those eyes of yours, and he'll do anything to get them. That makes him desperate, and desperation makes him stupid. He'll want to believe you're on his side, so he'll overlook things. And quite apart from that? We're sending you because they're already coming to get you. They think you're in a position to go Missing, and that's something we can use."

Sasuke went very still. All of a sudden, death was sitting in the room with them.

"They think I'd go Missing?" he asked, carefully keeping his face blank.

"Yes." Danzo's face and tone gave nothing away.

"Do you?"

"The question will not arise, Uchiha-san. After all, if you're not interested in taking this mission, we'll simply deal with his envoys. They'll not be too difficult for the ANBU combat team we have standing by."

In Sasuke's head, wheels turned furiously. _It's not just Sound,_ he thought feverishly, _HE thinks I'll go missing too. If I say no, they'll pull the plug on this mission, and all of a sudden I'm a liability with no redeeming factors. And the ANBU don't like liabilities. They won't kill me, not outright, but there'll be an accident on a mission, and I'll be given the full funeral, and somewhere in a file just like the one in that motherfucker's hands right now, someone will write something like "terminated." And that'll be all._

_If I say no, I'm already fucking dead..._

"So where do I sign?" he asked, his tone casually insolent.

Danzo smiled. "We'll arrange the paperwork later. For now, Sasuke-sama, you'll need a little training."

"I'm already fucking trained."

"Not like this. Tell me, Sasuke," Danzo said, carefully pushing back his chair so it didn't scrape against the ground, "what do you know about infiltrators?"

XXXXX

Tsunade sat in her office, a glass of sake in her hand, staring out at the dark skyline, and thought about the crop she was going to have to reap. It had been three days, now, since her conversation with Danzo. It had been half an hour since Uchiha Sasuke had successfully been extracted by the Sound Four. Danzo had only just left her office, politely informing her that Uchiha Sasuke had exceeded his expectations, passing Infiltration training with flying colours (_which is hardly surprising, considering the little shit's a prodigy, _she thought uncharitably), and the communication system seemed to be working well enough. Uchiha Sasuke was dropping his location in the tiny chakra taints the ANBU used; if you didn't know the frequency, then you wouldn't even know what you were looking for.

In the morning, she was going to have to authorise a retrieval mission, and she'd already half-drafted the team she was going to send. They'd fail, and they'd come back beaten and with their tails between their legs, and Uchiha Sasuke would go to Sound and get the training he needed.

And she was going to spend the rest of her life second-guessing her decision today. She knew enough of her wayward team-mate to know that any village built by Orochimaru's hand would disillusion a ninja very quickly. For all his talent- for all his harshness and resilience- Uchiha Sasuke was still a twelve year old boy with almost no combat experience and a single figure kill-rate. He would be exposed to things that even she would baulk at.

Even if Sasuke Uchiha came back, he would never be the boy she'd sent away from Konoha. A part of him would never come home at all.

Tsunade sat in her office, a glass of sake in her hand, staring out at the dark skyline, and thought about the crop she was going to have to reap.

XXXXX

Okay. So there's chapter two. I spent a while deliberating over this one, because the first scene started off as a montage of Danzo training Sasuke, but it really, really, REALLY didn't work. So I wrote the above instead, and left the training montage off-stage. I think this works better, but any constructive criticism is entirely welcome.


	3. Chapter 3

The ink and chakra on Sasuke's neck pulsed and twisted like some kind of obscene jellyfish, trailing tendrils through his flesh. He tried not to think about it, or the uncomfortable, relentless energy he could feel bubbling up beneath it. He had to do this. For himself. For Konoha. He just had to keep walking.

He took a step forward, and then another. The sound of Kimimaro's battle had faded long ago. He didn't have guides, any more, but they'd given him a rough idea of where Sound was. Scouts would pick him up when he got within a couple of miles of it. He just needed to keep going.

There was a thud of feet hitting earth. Sasuke stiffened. The vibration of the earth, the way his pursuer held his weight- to one with senses keen enough, it was as good as a fingerprint. Uchiha Sasuke turned, and looked into Uzumaki Naruto's violent blue eyes.

For a long moment, neither said anything. The silence was strangely awkward, as if Sasuke had been doing something embarrassing or silly. Then Naruto spoke.

"What the hell are you doing, man?" It wasn't an accusation. Sasuke could have dealt with that. It was the quiet, almost plaintive tone of voice he'd used to ask Itachi why he had to go away on a long mission, and it grated on his heart like a blunted razorblade on a violin string. All of a sudden, he felt the worth of his training. Without Danzo's tutoring, harsh as it had been, he'd not have been able to hold his face so blank.

He didn't tell Naruto he was following orders. He didn't tell him he was going to come back. He didn't say he was going to kill the brother who betrayed him and come home to the one who'd showed him a loyalty he hadn't understood until far, far too late.

He didn't say anything, because he couldn't trust his words not to shatter the mask of lies he so desperately needed. He just turned away, and started to walk again.

So it came as a complete surprise when Naruto struck him with a well-placed Rasengan between the shoulderblades. But old reflexes kicked in, and Sasuke twisted in the air, landing legs spread, leaning forward with a hand pressed into the ground. He'd managed to fall facing Naruto, so as he skidded away, he could see his team-mate's face flush red with frustrated fury and misery, eyes bright with unshed tears.

"I SAID WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?" he howled. Sasuke rose, slowly, watching him. "YOU'RE BREAKING SAKURA'S FUCKING HEART, YOU SON OF A BITCH! WHY ARE YOU GOING? WHY ARE YOU LEAVING US?"

Sasuke stared at him, and felt a hair-thin fracture run through his mask.

"Because I have to," he said, softly. "You have to go with Jiraiya. Sakura has to go with Tsunade. I have to go with Orochimaru. It's who we are, Naruto. It's written right into our core. We have no choice in this." He felt the whisper of the words as they left his lips. They were true, he realised, and salved his conscience a little, but he could see them cutting into Naruto as he said them. He hated himself a little, for that. _I'll come back,_ he told himself. _Who I am demands this, but it also demands I return. I'll come back, Naruto, even if I can't tell you, I swear to God I'll come back._

"No choice? No choice? You son of a bitch, you're choosing right now! You're choosing that snaky mother-fucker over us!"

_No. I'm not. Please, understand, no I'm not._

He said nothing. But he couldn't walk away.

Naruto's face stayed flushed, but his expression started to calm.

"Fine, then," he said, quietly. "I said I'd bring you back, Sasuke, if I have to break every bone in your body to do it. But I'll make you a bet. You and me, we're going to have a little sparring match. If I win, you'll come back to Konoha with me."

Sasuke looked at him. In his head, the voice of Danzo spoke from memory.

_Remember, when they look at you they must see a Missing Nin. That Missing Nin would contemplate this deal._

_I don't want to do this, Danzo._

_You must, operative. Your wants are irrelevant._

"And if I win?" he asked, quietly.

"Then... then I'll let you go. For now. Just this once."

_Don't say that. For the love of God PLEASE don't say that._

_The Missing Nin would say yes._

_I Don't want to._

Blood surged through the capillaries in his eyes, and the world exploded into scarlet angles.

"Fine," he whispered, lying through his teeth.

XXXXX

Danzo didn't smile at her, although Tsunade suspected he'd had to squash the urge. She'd ended up coming to his office, and she was the one standing. Somehow, the faux-authority it granted him was remarkably grating.

"The operation is go, then?"

"Yes, ma'am. I'm informed that Uchiha has evaded most of the retrieval team bar one. We have high hopes that he'll win."

Tsunade didn't ask who. She suspected she wouldn't like the answer.

"Then why've you asked to see me? More specifically, why in your office?"

"Suffice to say I have my doubts, ma'am. I feel we may need to treat this operation... a little more delicately then usual."

_Stop stalling, Danzo,_ Tsunade thought. _Whatever you want, come out with it. _She ignored the subtle insult to her abilities. The implication that without his assistance she'd be a heavy-handed spymaster was well-hidden for most ninjas, but for him it was too obvious to be anything but a feint. So she left it alone and just looked at him, and let the silence draw out.

"I feel," said Danzo, eventually, "that it might be sensible to keep this operation off the books. Keep it away from admin."

_Ah. So that's his game._

Administrative operatives, or "paperwork ninjas" as they were less formally known, were amongst the most elite non-combatants in Konoha's military structure. It was their task to trawl through the endless piles of reports, write-ups and debriefings that Konoha nin generated, and from this tangled and bewildering web piece together a picture of what happened within Konoha and without. They choreographed the vast dance of the village, answering only to the Hokage, the council, and those authorised by these two weighty authorities. They were the tools of the Hokage in the most direct obvious fashion, because it was through them that the village was commanded.

Thus, when an infiltrator went on mission, it was admin's duty to keep them out of the line of fire. No Hunter Nin were dispatched, the bounty on their cover's head was kept low, and ANBU made arrangements to ease them out of and into village life. It was basic policy, and while there was mistakes (which had led to a lot of bad blood between repeat infiltrators and hunter nin), by and large, it protected all concerned.

To keep an infiltrator off-book meant that all those basic protections would be denied to Sasuke. The only way to stop the Hunter-Nin from targeting him would be to order them not to directly, and that would cause far more problems then it would solve. It'd also grant Danzo total control over the operation. Any information she'd get would come through him first, and he'd be able to filter it any way he wanted.

"Your reasoning?" she asked, bluntly. Tsunade was really, really not in the mood to be polite right now.

"How many questions could put the operation in jeopardy, ma'am? He's unexperienced and untrained beyond what I could instil in him- a great deal, granted, but nowhere near enough to convince anyone else. Should someone ask questions, it could all fall down around our ears. Politically, it'd be suicide. More importantly, however, it would also kill Sasuke."

Tsunade growled beneath her breath. Of course it would. Sasuke needed a handler badly, and any political or bureaucratic interference would fuck that up in a heartbeat. She'd lost this battle before she'd walked into the (sound-proofed, unrecorded) room.

"I see. Done."

She turned and walked out without looking at him. Behind her, Danzo smiled.

XXXXX

Sasuke stood, panting, on his side of the cave, trying hard not to be sick. The seal had already spread its malignant chakra through his flesh, warping his body into something unrecognizable and powerful, grey skinned and winged. The uncomfortable energy he'd felt pulsing through him was still present, but at least now he could control it.

Opposite to him, Naruto blazed with scarlet fire. His eyes, furious scarlet, were seething with ill-surpressed fury. The fight was coming to its climax, and both of them knew it. Somewhere deep inside himself, Sasuke was terrified was going to have to kill him.

But he couldn't turn back now. He'd come too far. Unconsciously, Sasuke's fingers flickered through the handseals for Chidori, and his Sharingan showed Naruto's chakra whirlin g into a Rasengan. There was nothing for it now but to fight, and fight hard, and pray he didn't do anything he'd never undo.

He lunged at Naruto, grey wings throwing him through the air, hand crackling with shadowy lightning. Naruto responded in kind, screaming like a fox, a streak of scarlet with a rasengan in one hand. They struck each other, lightning meeting wind, shadows meeting rage, and the world was consumed in white light.

Ever after, Sasuke would be unable to remember the blow. Perhaps it had been beyond his senses' ability to record, too fast and too violent. But he would remember what happened next.

He landed heavily on the opposite side of the cave, spraining his ankle as he did so. His flesh was his own again- Naruto's attack must have forced his cursed seal to regress. He turned warily, feeling the exhaustion weigh heavily on him as he did so, waiting for the next offensive.

But it didn't come.

Naruto lay, unconscious, on the cave floor a few hundred feet away. Sasuke found himself staggering over, tripping and falling, until he was kneeling at his friend's side.

His Sharingan was gone, he noted dully, because he didn't see Naruto in the haze of informative reds and scarlets that indicated his heartbeat and chakra circulation. Sasuke checked his pulse- weak, but steady, and getting stronger. He was healing already, thank god.

The last of the Uchiha let out a gasp of relief. He was alive. He'd done what was necessary, but Naruto was alive. It was going to be alright.

Except, he realised with brutal horror, he was going to have to leave him. The mission demanded he keep going. Naruto would be defenceless.

For a long moment, Sasuke just sat there. Then he pulled himself up, and dragged himself away, face blank.

For the mission. For what needed to be done.

XXXXX

MAN but this was a bitch to write. The first scene in particular was hard, because while I knew what I wanted to do with the Valley of the End sequence, I couldn't get it to come out right. Which was REALLY annoying, as I'm sure everyone else who's suffered writer's block can attest. Things started to flow again yesterday, though, and I'm finishing it in the canteen in college. I'm admittedly not particularly happy with the end product, but I think I can refine it a bit later. Right now, I just want to get this up.

Okay! So! First and foremost, a big thank you to all of you for being so nice in your reviews, and an even bigger thank you for the constructive criticism you've given me for it so far- that helps enormously. Special mention must go to Nugar, who I somehow suspect is at least partly behind the huge traffic spike. :P

Someone, not sure who, asked me whether this is going to obey the canon laid out so far. It's a good question, but one I'm hesitant to answer, as I don't want to tie myself down. At the moment, I think it'll end up diverging at some point, but this is a nail fic after all, so that was to be expected. I promise not to fix everything, however. If anything, this could be darker then the canon.

Thanks again, guys. Keep on truckin'.


	4. Chapter 4

The first thing that went through Naruto's dazed and bleary mind, as he started the long and slow trek back to conscious thought, was recognition, mixed with confusion. Someone nearby was sobbing, quietly. Someone familiar. He couldn't understand why, but it hurt him, for some reason, and he struggled to rouse himself to silence it.

His eyelids felt leaden and heavy, but after a moment they slid back over his eyes. He looked around blearily, and saw Sakura, curled up by his bedside with her head in her hands. And then it all came back, so horrible that he could barely breathe with the shame of it.

He'd broken his promise. And here she was, the girl betrayed, crying by his bedside like a lonely child. He tried to speak, but his mouth was dry. He tried to reach for her, but his arms were heavy with the drugs he'd been dosed with. He tried to move, to say how sorry he was, but his body was bound and broken, and the weight of failure held him prone.

Uchiha Sasuke was gone. And in a tiny room in Konoha, the pain of his leaving bore bitter fruit.

XXXXX

The first impression of Sound that Sasuke got was when three shuriken buried themselves in the tree he was leaning against. In later years, he would find this bitterly appropriate, but at the time, his first reaction was to fling himself into the air and activate his Sharingan. His attackers were two hundred feet away, hiding in the foliage. They also wore Sound forehead protectors, which was pretty much the only thing that kept him from fireballing them to death.

He alighted gracefully to the ground again, and glanced expressionlessly up at the trees where they hid.

"Something I can help you with?" he enquired, tone carefully blank. _Rule two of infiltration: the less you give them, the less they have against you._

The two of them dropped out of the trees and looked at him, hard. The one nearer to him was glaring daggers. His chakra level seemed relatively minor, compared to Sasuke, but he filed him away anyway for future reference. The other one was far more interesting. She was short, and stocky enough for her age, her hair a vibrant shade of green and closely cropped around her skull.

And there was something oddly wrong about her. His Sharingan couldn't tell him what it was, but he could feel it, just looking at her. The fact that she was in charge (and she was in charge, whatever her companion seemed to think) just added to his sense of unease. What, precisely, had been done to this girl?

"Yeah, you can fuckin' help us with somethin'," hissed the boy. Sasuke glanced back at him. "You can fuck off, that's how you can fuckin' help us."

"Shut up, Kenrate ," said the girl, absently. She continued staring at Sasuke, silently.

"Sasuke Uchiha, right?"

He nodded.

"Thought so. Kabuto said you'd be showing up." Beside her, Kenrate went red.

"How do we know you're not a fake?" he snarled. Sasuke managed not to roll his eyes. This was face saving of the worst ilk, and he had no time for it.

"You know anyone else with a Sharingan? Because I'd like to meet them if you do." He tilted his head, birdlike, and gazed blankly at the boy.

Kenrate, still blushing from embarrassment, went redder still.

"Yeah? Well last I checked, fuck-face, you were supposed to have company. Where's the Sound Four?"

The girl sighed.

Then she flooded the entire clearing with enough killing intent to drain the blood from Sasuke's face and send Kenrate staggering away, eyes too wide.

"I told you to shut up," she said, calmly. "Maybe you could try obeying orders?"

Kenrate mumbled something incoherent. She rolled her eyes, and stalked over to him. Sasuke was deeply impressed that Kenrate didn't try to escape. He wasn't sure he would have shown such metal, in similar circumstances.

"You shouldn't embarrass me in front of the new guy, Kenrate," she said, quietly. Kenrate's mouth was open, but no sound came out. "It's upsetting. It really is. Okay?"

There was a long, tense moment. Kenrate nodded. She gave a smirk, and all of a sudden the killing intent was gone. Sasuke didn't let himself relax. She was one to watch, this one. One to be very careful around.

_Rule three of infiltration. If you know them, then you know where to stick the knife._

_Corollary: you also know where they'll try to stick it in yours._

He filed her away too. In a file that he suspected would be far better documented then Kenrate's.

She stood up straight again, and smiled at him. "I don't think I've introduced myself. I'm Kyoko Kiko. Nice to meet you." She gave a girlish little wave, and then started walking away.

"Welcome to Sound, Uchiha-San," she called over her shoulder. "Orochimaru wants to say hi!"

XXXXX

Tsunade managed to meet Jiraiya's eyes, but only just. This really wasn't how she wanted to have this conversation. It was supposed to happen in her office, where she could lock the door, use a couple of privacy aids to keep anyone from prying, and if worst came to worst get hold of large amounts of sake to render him pliable.

Instead, it was happening on the hospital roof. She honestly couldn't think of anywhere worse, but she wasn't in a position to argue this. She owed Jiraiya a lot, right now.

"So this is the part where you explain why Naruto's in a hospital bed looking like someone's taken a razorblade to him for a couple of hours, right?" He said, voice sunny and bright and so full of rage she had to fight down the urge to flinch.

"Yeah, this is that part." She was proud of how calm she sounded. Right now she needed something to be proud of. "A couple of days ago, Uchiha Sasuke went Missing. I put Naruto on the retrieval team- figured I owed him a shot at bringing back his boy. Thing is, Sasuke had company. You ever hear of the Sound Four?"

"Orochimaru's honour guard." Jiraiya's tone was low, considering.

"Yeah. Well, he sent them to make sure the Uchiha brat didn't get lost. Retrieval team managed to neutralise them- all of them, which is impressive, considering the situation- but Naruto and Sasuke got into a little fight in the Valley of the End. Sasuke won. Naruto's alive, which is something we can probably thank our nine-tailed friend for, but he's still gonna take a while to put himself back together again."

She paused.

"That's the official story."

The silence was dark and charged with violence.

"And the reality?"

Tsunade forced herself to meet his eyes.

"Uchiha Sasuke is on mission to infiltrate Sound, learn what he can on the village, and then get out before Orochimaru takes his body. He's off-book. Danzo's running the op through ROOT." She crushed a sob out of her voice. "The retrieval team was a necessary evil to keep up the pretence. We had to fool Sound, and Leaf."

Silence howled.

"_What?_"

Jiraiya's face was slack with shock. Then it tightened into a glare white-hot with fury.

"You endangered the life of my student- and four other poor motherfucks you stuck on that team- for a fucking _alibi?"_

Tsunade forced defiance into her response. "Yes. Yes I fucking did. Because I'm the fucking _Hokage_- at your request- and Orochimaru isn't just our problem anymore, not since he left _half the fucking village in ruins._ I read the KIA lists when I took office. We've got a crop of orphans big enough to ensure our next generation of Ninjas will have fewer parents then any other in history, and that's counting the fucking KYUBI attack. Do you understand that? Orochimaru managed that in one. Fucking. Attack. And he is still out there.

"So yeah. I set up your apprentice, and his squad, to ensure that our infiltrator had a better cover. Yeah, I'm dealing with Danzo so that Sasuke might possibly make it out of this alive. Yeah, I'm jumping into bed with the worse elements of this village's political spectrum to ensure that we have an idea what the FUCK Orochimaru's up to. Because if I don't, then I'm not doing my job properly, and I _will burn in hell before that happens._"

Silence, blessed and white as snow. Jiraiya had gone still.

Tsunade was panting. She wasn't sure when she'd started shouting. _So much for security,_ she thought ruefully. _Let's hope no-one interesting heard any of it._

After another moment, Jiraiya spoke. "I... hadn't realised you were taking this so seriously."

"I didn't either. But acting as a placeholder for Naruto isn't going to do this village any good, is it?"

They stared at each other for a long moment.

"If Sasuke's training with Orochimaru," said Jiraiya, picking his words with care, "then he's going to have a certain advantage over his team-mates when he gets back."

"No, he's not. Three students for three teachers."

XXXXX

Woah. So... this one took even longer then the last one. It's also nowhere near as good, for which I apologise, but I wanted to have something to put up before I drove you all stir-crazy. It's not a good excuse, I admit, but I'm fucking sticking to it!

Okay. So a quick explanation. Someone asked why Tsunade gave in to Danzo's suggestion to keep this whole affair off-book. The reason's actually relatively simple. This whole operation is something that the council, let's be honest, will not approve of. From their point of view, she's either risking the last of the Uchiha on a suicide mission, or putting far too much effort in keeping a traitor in the village as opposed to just killing the little brat and using blood samples to clone them up a couple of new Uchiha. And no, this is not particularly sound thinking, but they're all still very scared by Orochimaru's attack, and that fear can make otherwise very smart people stupid. On top of that, Tsunade's still a relatively new hokage, and that means she's still relatively politically weak- especially considering how long she's been in the village. She needs time to cement her powerbase and take command of the village properly.

This operation, however, is also very much necessary, as her little speech above outlines. Thing is, she needs Danzo to run it at all, and he's a very ambitious man. In the last chapter, he threatened to leak the details of the op to the council, which would then tie up Tsunade in politics she really doesn't want to be involved in and muddy the waters something wicked. As a result, Sasuke wouldn't get a handler- the other half of an infiltration team, who stays in contact with Konoha and relays instructions and information back and forth via chakra taint- and would thus be left in Sound with no exit strategy and no one to tell him what to do; not quite a death sentence, but considering he wouldn't know he's on his own it might as well be one. So she had to give in and let Danzo run the show his way.

I realise that's a lot of exposition I should maybe have done in the actual story, for which I apologise. Anyway, yeah. Enjoy! And if you have any comments or criticism, please feel free to let me know!


	5. Chapter 5

Sakura sat in a corridor of the hospital, just outside Naruto's room. She wasn't crying anymore, although the effort of stopping had cost her a lot; she'd seen Naruto stirring, though, and she couldn't let him see her cry. He'd fought so hard for her, and been hurt so badly. To show him her disappointment would not simply have been petty, it'd have been genuinely cruel. She'd done far too much of that to him already.

But as he woke, she realised she couldn't look at him, either. For the first few moments it had been fine, but then he'd turned those big blue eyes on her, so violently heart-broken she couldn't even speak.

"I'm sorry, Sakura," he'd muttered, his voice broken. "I... I couldn't stop him."

"It's alright," she'd whispered back, clutching his hand, tears beaten back. "You tried. I know how hard you fought, Naruto. You did everything you could."

"Then why is he still gone?" he'd demanded, and neither of them had been sure if he was asking her or himself.

She'd gone outside a few minutes later. She couldn't help him now, and he couldn't help her. They'd lost Sasuke, and in so doing they'd started to lose their grip on each other, too.

So wrapped up in her thoughts was she that she didn't hear Tsunade sit down next to her, and didn't even notice her Hokage until she started to speak.

"Hurts, doesn't it," said Tsunade, her voice blunt but not unkind. Sakura felt her throat tighten again, the tears rising like gorge in her throat. She couldn't speak, but she nodded, staring down at her knees. Tsunade rested a hand on her shoulder, gently, and then pulled her roughly into a one armed hug.

"It'll keep hurting, too," she said, quietly. "I'm sorry about that, Sakura. I wish I could tell you the pain goes away, eventually, but... it doesn't. It still hurts, even years later."

Sakura quaked against her, for a moment, before she managed to draw her voice up out of the well of misery in her gullet. "Why... why did Orochimaru go?" she managed to ask. It hadn't been what she was going to say, but to talk about Sasuke right now, even with Tsunade, would break her.

For a long moment, her comforter didn't speak. "I've been asking myself that question for a very long time now," she said, finally. "I stay up some nights, wondering about it. And for a while, it hurt to think about. It hurt so much I thought it'd drive me mad, but I couldn't pull myself away from it. It was like a grain of sand in my head, driving me mad by inches.

"It almost tore me apart. It would have, too, if I hadn't convinced myself that I didn't care. I tried to pretend I hated him."

"Did it work?" Sakura asked. She didn't feel the tears welling up, now. They were still there, but she'd a modicum of control.

"Not really. It was denial, Sakura, pure and simple. What changed things was quite simple. I realised something. Whatever drove Orochimaru off wasn't me. It wasn't Jiraiya, either, for all I'd blamed him. What sent him down that road was him, plain and simple, and torturing myself over it wasn't going to fix anything. It hurt, to realise that; it still does. But I could deal with that kind of hurt. I could carry on around it."

Sakura lay still against Tsunade's breast. "Before... before Sasuke left," she began, quietly, "I saw him. I... I asked him not to go. Begged him. And when... when I thought he was going to go anyway, I said I'd go with him. I even told him I loved him." She was amazed by how steady her voice was. "He still left."

Tsunade squeezed her gently.

"I did the same with Orochimaru," she said. "Although I think I cursed a lot more then I suspect you did."

Sakura gave a half-laugh.

"He may have left anyway, Sakura," said Tsunade, gently. "But it's worth remembering that, whatever his reasons, it wasn't your fault. I know I told myself that if I'd been better, or stronger, or even loved him that little bit more, I could have kept him here. But it wasn't true. He left because of him. Not you."

After a moment, Sakura nodded. They sat like that for a while, before they drew apart again.

Tsunade gave her a look that Sakura couldn't read. "May I ask you a question?"

XXXXX

Jiraiya let himself into Naruto's room through the window. He'd had to wait for his student's team mate to leave first; this was a private conversation, and he didn't want to force her out to have it.

Naruto didn't seem surprised to see him, though.

"She hates me," he said, baldly.

"No, she doesn't. She's hurting, and so are you. That kind of pain doesn't mix well with others." Jiraiya didn't sugarcoat it. He knew Naruto well enough to know that trying to soften the blow wouldn't help matters.

"Well, she should," Naruto half-snarled. "Sasuke's gone. And it's my fault. If I'd just-"

"What? Fought harder? I've already seen what you two did to the valley of the end, kid. If you'd fought any harder there wouldn't be anything left- of you or Sasuke. You did what you could, which was far more then anyone had any right to ask of you."

Naruto looked at him. Through the exhaustion that shrouded his face, Jiraiya could see the marks of rage and misery. He sighed, and pulled up a chair next to his apprentice.

"I know this... really isn't going to help," he began, cursing himself for his awkwardness, "but this _isn't your fault_. I know you think it is. I know you're probably _aching_ for someone to blame. But you aren't helping anything by doing that. It's... it's sound and fury, kid. Just sound and fury."

"Jiraiya... I let him go."

Jiraiya looked at his student's face again. It was like looking across time and space, to the day he'd lain in a bed just like this when Orochimaru had gone. For a moment, he felt the rage he'd vented at Tsunade on the rooftop building again, but he squashed it swiftly. This was not the time.

"Did you?"

"I said... I said if he beat me, I'd let him go. I... I broke my promise."

Jiraiya sighed, quietly. "Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"You sure? Because it sounds to me like you just... extended it."

Naruto looked up, brow furrowed.

"What?"

"Well... is there an expiry date on that promise of yours?"

XXXXX

Orochimaru's throne room, Sasuke reflected, was oddly reminiscent of the Hokage's office back in Konoha. He wondered, briefly, if all Kages went to the same designer for their headquarters. Perhaps it was about the prestige.

Orochimaru had sat in a large and heavy throne, carved like a hooded cobra, his legs draped over one arm and his head supported on his hand, elbow perched on the other. He grinned at Sasuke grotesquely- although he probably thought it was welcoming. Sasuke watched him rise up, moving with a disturbing, fluid grace, and managed not to tense.

"Sasuke-Kun," he breezed. "So kind of you to come. I hope the trip wasn't stressful?"

_He thinks you're blank. Cold. So show him what he expects to see._

"Something like that," replied Sasuke, his tone kept carefully even. This was probably the easiest part; he was playing to type, here.

"No fusses, then? I heard that odd little team-mate of yours caused quite a fuss."

Sasuke felt fear grip him for the briefest moment. That had all the hallmarks of a suspicious mind latching onto his cover. Orochimaru was supposed to have bought that already, damn it! How was he supposed to-

He forced himself to relax. He hadn't shown anything outwardly- not yet, at least- and Orochimaru was looking at him amusedly. _He doesn't suspect anything. It's just a game to him, that's all._

"Nothing I couldn't handle."

Orochimaru laughed again, longer this time. "Of course it wasn't! Oh, Sasuke. It's a joy talking to you. It's like talking to myself when I left that disgusting little village. You know, I think you and I are going to be great friends."

Sasuke looked at the creature in front of him, not quite human, far from sane, and the key to all the power and strength he needed. He considered why he was here. His village. His clan. That little seed of vengeance in him that hungered for his brother's blood.

And looked at Orochimaru's eyes.

And forced himself to nod.

"Oh good! Then I suppose, there's only one thing to ask!"

XXXXX

In a hospital in Leaf, and a throne room in Sound, six people had three conversations, and they all went the same way.

"You need me, you know," said the elder. The words were not the same, but the intent was. "You need what I know. What I can teach you."

The younger looked back at them. They considered their desires; one for revenge, one for a brother, and one for the pain to go away. They looked at the elder, considered, and then nodded. "Yes," they said. "I know."

"And you know that I may have to ask a great deal of you."

"Yes."

"Then you know what I'm going to ask?"

In the corridor, Sakura nodded wordlessly.

In the hospital bed, Naruto shrugged.

In the throne room, Sasuke twitched a smile.

"Good. But I'm going to ask anyway."

The moments ticked by.

"Would you like to be my student?"

The younger did not smile. There was nothing to smile about.

They just answered, in voices deadened by pain and need.

"Yes, master. I would."

XXXXX

Well, it seems I've another apology to make for how long this one took. For what it's worth, the next one should be much quicker. The reason it took so long to write this is because for the past few weeks I've been trying to figure out what I actually wanted to _do_ with this fic. My original plan called for a big happy ending where Danzo got put on trial for his crimes and then everything was hunky dory, but I've come to realise that, on further consideration, that is a _monumentally _dumb idea. So for a long while Infiltrator's story was looking very, very bleak.

But then two important things happened. I was struck by a bolt of inspiration on how to carry on the story, as well as a rather good end destination, and I started listening to the album "The City That Sleeps" by A Silent Film while walking home from rehearsals one day. And all of a sudden, everything came together in my head. So yeah- I know where I'm going now. Let's see how it plays out, shall we?

On a few other notes, I'd like to apologise about the lack of line breaks a while back. That was not intentional, I promise! apparently got rather stroppy with me, and made all my little centred dashes vanish. But it's okay! I've remedied the problem like I do everything else; blatantly steal from someone else who knows what they're doing. In this case, I nicked Nugar's method of line breaks, so thank you Nugar.

Someone mentioned a flaw in the plot a while ago; specifically, they mentioned Sasuke using Chidori at the end of his duel with Naruto. They pointed out how the Chidori is a killing move, and it kind of undermines Sasuke's earnest goodwill from the reader when he tries to murder his best friend. And that's a good point! I have two responses for this, though, so here goes. First one is the in-story explanation. At that point, both Sasuke and Naruto had gone pretty all out; neither one of them was holding back by any stretch of the imagination. Plus, Naruto had just used Rasengan on Sasuke, another killing move. Sasuke did have to retaliate on at least an even par with Naruto, or he was going to get his ass handed to him. Besides, people _have _survived Chidori in the past; I don't think it's assuming much for Sasuke to hope/assume Naruto wouldn't be killed by being on the receiving end of it.

The other reason was equal parts adherence to the source material- I wanted to try and keep the Valley of the End segment as close to the original as possible, because I still feel that's one of the highlights of the series so far and a HELL of a climax to it's arc and to the pre-timeskip period of the show- and artistic symmetry. Throughout the series, Chidori and Rasengan have been presented as being equal and opposite of each other. They serve to show the symmetry and similarities between Naruto and Sasuke. Thus, them using them against each other is a lot more artistically satisfying then Naruto throwing a shuriken and Sasuke a Senbon, or something. It just... works better, man.

Anyway, yeah. That's part five. Thanks for sticking with it, guys. Keep on truckin'.


	6. Chapter 6

"The hardest part about living here," muttered Sasuke, his voice barely audible over the crackle of the fire, "is the act."

The ANBU looked at him, his mask (a cat, painted in red and blue over white porcelain) shielding his expression. That was the weirdest thing about his handler, Sasuke reflected- the clothes changed- fuck, the skin colour and _gender _changed- but that mask was always there, hiding the face. For the first two meetings, Sasuke had thought he was dealing with a henge-specialist or something. It fit well with the purpose of a handler as explained by Danzo in his training, at least. They were supposed to be stealthy fuckers, even beyond the norm; they had even less cover then an Infiltrator, after all.

But after a while, he'd realised that no, these weren't henges. The Handler's chakra patterns were different every time he saw him (or maybe her. Or possibly them). That suggested some kind of possession jutsu, or...

_Or that's a full-on body morph. I'm not sure which is more disturbing._

"The act?" The ANBU tilted his head slightly. Sasuke still hadn't gotten his real name, and right now Ichigo, the blatantly fake codename he'd been given, didn't feel appropriate.

"Yeah. Pretending I'm blank all the time. Empty. Focused on revenge."

"Aren't you?"

Sasuke glared at him. "If you're just going to insult me, I'm not going to answer your chakra taints next time."

"I'm not insulting you. I'm simply raising a point. You've taken on Infiltrator work- untrained, I must add, which is unheard of- in one of the most dangerous missing nin settlements on the Hidden Continent so you can have a shot at killing your brother. It's a perfectly admirable goal, and if I were in your position I'd be just as inclined to brutally castrate the bastard as I'm sure you are."

"I'm not going to castrate him. Too easy."

"Apologies, but my argument still stands. You're very focused on revenge. That part at least isn't an act."

Sasuke glared, but after a moment of awkward silence while he fumbled for a retort, he was forced to concede the point. "Alright, but that doesn't help the situation. People keep bringing up Konoha."

"Basic equivalent of hazing the new guy. You're trained for that."

"Doesn't mean I fucking like it."

"I'm not particularly fond of spending my time hiding in the forests outside a city full of people who'd like to kill me in excruciating ways. Life sucks. Welcome to ANBU."

"I'm not ANBU."

"Oh, yes you are," replied his handler, irritably, sitting back on his haunches. "You're doing infiltration work which most of the Konoha population will probably never hear about for bugger-all pay. You've got ANBU written all over you. The fact that you don't have a mask or a codename doesn't mean shit. Fuck, I'm pretty sure if you'd never got handed this mission, you'd have ended up ANBU in a couple of years anyway."

It was comments like that that made Sasuke wonder how much of this was the typical Handler-Infiltrator relationship, how much of it was genuine concern for him and how much was orders from Danzo. In all three cases, he'd normally be irritated. He wasn't interested in making friends, he was interested in learning techniques- fuck anything that got in the way of that. (He brutally crushed the bubbling thoughts of Naruto that rose in his head. He'd gotten good at that, and tried to avoid the ramifications of that thought.)

Instead of the usual anger at being patronised, though, he usually found himself oddly grateful for these little moments when he could stop being an infiltrator and just be an angry, nervous kid again. It made going back and lying through his teeth to everyone around him a little bit easier, and he needed that.

"Fine, whatever. My point is, this sucks. I mean, there are girls here, you know? Good looking girls. With personalities that do not cause me to retch in disgust every time they look at me. Do you realise how rare that is back home?"

"Kid, we really need to get you a psychologist. You are fucking screwed up."

"Fuck you."

There was a moment of silence.

"...Cute girls, huh?"

"Way cute."

"Damn. I've been out here six months. Been a long time since I've seen me some woman flesh. But this is neither here nor there!" The ANBU straightened abruptly. Sasuke tried not to roll his eyes. Even when he was being professional, this guy was ridiculous. "We've got trouble."

Sasuke went still. He felt himself ready his Sharingan by reflex. "What kind of trouble?"

"Someone's assigned a hunter-nin."

XXXXX

In Konoha, the ANBU are a large and nebulous organisation, with many arms and offshoots that occasionally overlap. Of these, the most distinct are the Hunter-nin. As field operatives, they are of course required to wear an ANBU mask at all times while on duty or pursuing a mission, but unlike the rest of the organisation, their masks tend to be abstract designs. Their codenames, as well, also tended towards oddity; individuals named "Screen" and "Wall" were remarkably common.

The reason for this is never given. Most people will laugh it off, but it doesn't discharge the vague sense of unease that surrounds the Hunters. Because people don't _like _them. People are _scared_ of them. They are a small, elite group that hunt down and kill any shinobi who goes missing- and as much as you may hate them, no-one is comfortable with the idea that their former friends and loved ones are about to be killed like dogs by a man in a mask who'll then chalk it up as another day at the office.

The problem wasn't that they killed missing-nin. It was that they treated it like swatting a fly; an aggravating necessity.

Perhaps the most frightening of these individuals, however, was Door. His existence wasn't widely known, but if you were in ANBU, and you read the right files, then you'd find your nightmares filled with him; a white mask scarred with red, hovering in a cloud of blackness that might have been his body and might have been something else. And you would look at that mask, and the two shadowed eye-holes, and you would know that behind it lay something terrible. You would watch, transfixed by dread, as your hands reached for that mask. You wouldn't want to take it off; you knew that whatever was behind it was not meant for human eyes. But you wouldn't be able to stop yourself- _you had to see._

And then you would wake up screaming.

Door's identity is a mystery. People tend not to speculate, as that would require thinking about him for a prolonged period of time. But if they were inclined to consider the question, the name Hattori Nara wouldn't even be on the list.

Nara Hattori, after all, is nothing but a petty bureaucrat working in the Hokage's tower- a paper pusher with a clan-name and nothing else to distinguish him. He's not spoken of much back at the compound, and while he does turn up to the family dinners, there's always a vague sense of discomfort around him when he turns up. He's something of a disappointment, you see.

But Nara Shikaku knows perfectly well that Nara Hattori is one of the most gifted shinobi in his clan. For the past six years, he has taken the Nara's shadow manipulation jutsu and created amazingly innovative and complex new techniques. His talent is incredible.

He also knows that Hattori is a psychopath who needs to be kept on a short leash. He took far too well to the Shinobi way of life. Shikaku's just glad he's not his responsibility anymore.

Right now, Nara Hattori is getting undressed. He's in the Hunter-nin HQ, unofficially referred to as the stronghold, and he is preparing to shed the carefully constructed tissue of lies that he uses to convince (most of) the world that he is nothing but a polite and quiet and restrained young paper-pusher. It's vaguely ironic, really- the only time he takes his mask off is when he's putting his mask on.

Off come the glasses. Off comes the typical ninja uniform of chuunin vest, blue under jacket, and blue pants. Out come the hairclip and thin tie he uses to keep his ponytail back. And then, naked and clean, he places the mask onto his face. He wraps the black bandages around himself until he's covered again, skin invisible. The rough leather jerkin and combat pants, also black, follow that. And then the big, heavy, comfortable hooded coat, his favourite part, is swung over his shoulders and up over his head.

There is the slightest hum as the simple genjutsu he implanted into his mask sparks into life, and Door relaxes again. He isn't lying anymore, and that always feels good. Then he turns his attention to the file he was handed, and examines his target.

Uchiha Sasuke. Well, well. This _was _going to be interesting...

XXXXX

Right! The start of my favourite subplot, and one I've been kicking around for a _long _while. Door came to me while sitting on a bus in Dublin, trying to get back to my flat. Sitting about three seats ahead of me was this guy in a big coat and hoodie with the hood up, and I hadn't seen his face when he got on. I got gradually more and more creeped out as the ride went on, because I had no idea what he looked like and that scared the SHIT out of me. From this experience, Door was born. He's one of two non-canon characters in this fic, and I suspect he'll be more popular then the other one.

Right, now I realise this one is (a) late and (b) shorter then all of it's predecessors, for which I apologise, but I really wanted to get this written up and posted for you before you all lost interest. So you get this tidbit while I dash my brains to figure out what the hell I'm going to write next, because while I've got a vague idea of what I want to do, I don't have hard details and that makes things difficult.

This chapter, as I'm sure you'll all notice, is very different to the previous few ones, which are a bit more angst heavy. I felt it best to do something a bit lighter to keep y'all from topping yourselves due to an overdose of tween ninja misery. Plus, I've wanted to write that bit about Door for yonks, and he was always going to be introduced like that- the present tense should just be jarring enough to convey the sense of discomfort that being around him should invoke. I blame House of Leaves for that idea. :P

Now. Ser Davos asked why Tsunade and Sakura were so close in the last chapter, and helpfully pointed out that they wouldn't be as close as I've written them. Which is an entirely valid point. Normally, I'd respond with all my reasoning and logic as to why they're behaving like besties, but in this circumstance I'm going to have to come clean and admit that the only reason they got on so well was because I forgot Sakura only joined up later. I'd change it, but that fucks up the chapter. Sorry folks.

So... yeah. That's it. Keep on truckin', folks.


	7. Chapter 7

"If I'd known how bugfuck insane you were, I wouldn't have signed up."

Jiraiya smirked at Naruto.

"That's what they all say, dumbass. Now get on with it."

Naruto gave him a venomous look, but didn't reply. Which was promising, thought Jiraiya. He hadn't expected the little psycho to develop a sense of decorum quite so early on. That talk about a snide sense of humour being a useful weapon in a Ninja's arsenal had probably helped, though, as had keeping him tied up with a toad sitting in his mouth when he'd made one snarky joke too many.

It had taken Jiraiya six months to learn that. If he was honest, it was ever so slightly disheartening that the kid had got it before he did.

The training was going pretty well, though. The kid's tai-jutsu had come on leaps and bounds since they'd left Konoha, and his nin-jutsu was improving pretty fast too. Gen-jutsu was pretty much a lost cause at this point, though- the brat didn't have the patience or the sensitivity needed for fine chakra control, and the amount of chakra he produced didn't help matters. Still, he'd gotten the basics down on breaking out of them, and that he could work on.

This was why Naruto was currently sitting in the middle of a small glade, tied up and dosed to the gills with Chakra suppressants. He was also suffering from a quite minor gen-jutsu. Nothing too fancy; it had just screwed up the kid's sense of balance, which left him lolling around weakly on the ground. The idea, as Jiraiya had cheerfully explained to him, was simple. If he could break a little gen-jutsu like this with his chakra suppressed, then he could break a big one when it wasn't. Naruto had not been enthusiastic (at least, not if his filthy chorus of death threats had been anything to go by), but then again, what was a sensei for if not to teach you the hard lessons?

And to punish you for burning dinner last week. But mainly, hard lessons.

Naruto growled something incomprehensible at him from where he lay, but after a moment, Jiraiya felt the hum of chakra in the air. For a few minutes, nothing happened. Then he felt his gen-jutsu snap apart like a twig, and Naruto sat up, glaring at him.

"Finally!" Jiraiya said, with a sunny smile. "Christ, I thought I was going to die of old age before you got out of there."

"I should be so lucky," Naruto muttered. Jiraiya gave him a good natured clip around the ear.

"Now, it's time to do it again-" began Jiraiya. Then he stopped dead, as a sudden surge of chakra flared behind him. His head snapped around.

Danzo smiled at them both. "My apologies for barging in, Sannin-sama," he said politely. "I was wondering if I could have a word?"

XXXXX

Two hours later, Danzo stepped into Tsunade's office. She didn't look up, but he felt the silencing nin-jutsu hum into life in her walls. She'd beefed up her security a bit, which was disconcerting. He'd have to find another reason for them to conduct their private discussions in his offices, now.  
"He agreed. They'll deal with Door."

"Good." She stamped a form in front of her and pushed a small cup of tea over the desk towards him. He sat down and took it, gratefully. His relationship with Tsunade was still distinctly strained, but she was professional enough to put her work in front of her feelings.

_Although she might have drugged the tea._

He sipped it.

_Worse. It's Oolong. What's she trying to do, poison me?_

"Naruto has no idea who he's protecting, I assume?" she still wasn't looking at him.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you, ma'am. I was as careful as the situation allowed, but he's quicker then most."

Tsunade went silent again. Danzo put his tea cup down, still half-full, and bowed respectfully. "If that's all, ma'am?"

"Yes, Danzo. Dismissed."

XXXXX

"So explain to me again what an Infiltrator is?"

Jiraiya refrained from clipping Naruto around the ear. That was a bad sign. If things were bad enough that Jiraiya wasn't indulging his irritation- at the very least with sarcasm- things were getting serious.

"Infiltrators are ANBU high stealth specialists. They operate in twos- one Handler, one operative- and they sneak into other villages or ninja cells, usually by building a cover identity and then faking a defection. Most of them get covered on-book, so an Admin doesn't send a hunter-nin after them by accident. This one, however, isn't happening on-book to maintain plausible deniability if it all goes to hell, so someone's sent a hunter-nin to kill the operative."

"Okay... So where's the operative?"

"In Sound. We've only recently gotten a few in place." There was a pause.

"...Wait, Sound? You mean Sasuke's-"

"I don't know, kid," he said, abruptly_._ "The identity of the operative and handler is classified to fuck. With any luck, we won't even see them. Just get in, deal with the hunter-nin, and get out again."

"Yeah... alright." Naruto backed down. Infiltrators in Sound. Only recently put in place.

_Sasuke, you clever son of a bitch..._

"Kid, get your head out of your ass. We have work to do." Jiraiya shoved something into his hand. "Now drink that. We've not got much time."

"What is it?"

"Antidote for the chakra suppressants. And take your pants off, the side-effects are unpleasant."

XXXXX

Author's Note:

*cough* Hi, guys. No, I'm not dead. I have, however, had a remarkably crummy half-year, which is partly what delayed this chapter so long. It's incredibly bloody short for such a long wait, for which I apologise, but it leads right into the next one, and I'm starting that once I've finished uploading this. Hope those of you still reading get a kick out of it.

Keep on truckin'.


End file.
